Four young leaders from across the country are honored with a $5,000 scholarship for outstanding achievements and community impact in Agriculture, Civic Engagement, Healthy Living and STEM
CHEVY CHASE, MD (October 06, 2022) - National 4-H Council today announced the winners of the 2023 Youth In Action Awards, a national program that recognizes four young leaders with diverse backgrounds and perspectives who have positively impacted their communities in a 4-H core pillar area: Civic Engagement, Healthy Living, Agriculture, sponsored by Bayer, and STEM, sponsored by HughesNet.
The winners will receive a $5,000 higher education scholarship and spend 2023 inspiring other youth by telling their 4-H story and celebrating their leadership. In addition, they will have opportunities to showcase their nationally, network with prominent 4‑H alumni, and serve as the official 4‑H youth spokesperson for their pillar.
The announcement was made during National 4-H Week, held October 2-8 to celebrate and showcase the opportunities and impact that 4‑H offers young people across the country.
The winners of the 2023 4-H Youth in Action Awards include:
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- Sruthi Sudarsan, 17, San Ramon, CA - Civic Engagement: After facing obstacles around social anxiety, Sudarsan gained the skills and courage to speak up through 4-H. Using that confidence, she organized a mask-making program during the pandemic to serve the unhoused population in the Bay Area community, ultimately delivering 13,000 masks to shelters and clinics. She also launched her own organization that addresses health needs for underprivileged communities and started a mentorship program to empower kids with skills to identify community needs and develop creative solutions to make change.
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- Matias Habib, 17, Sandwich, IL - Agriculture, Sponsored by Bayer: When a Japanese Beetle infestation threatened his family's orchard, Habib researched and developed his own bio-pesticide, TerraBuster. With the help of 4-H, he funded his business, filed for a patent, and is expanding to other products. 4-H helped Habib overcome childhood challenges - struggling with social anxiety and alienation after moving to the US. Through his 4-H science program he found community, confidence, and empowerment to make a change.
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- Norah Carter, 18, Gibsonia, PA - Healthy Living: Throughout the pandemic, Carter helped other youth develop coping skills and mental health resilience utilizing the skills she learned through her own life with a disability. She adapted 4-H curricula to be taught online and conducted a workshop series on healthy living for three unique groups: previously-incarcerated youth, suburban tweens and urban teens.
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- Nicole Cash, 20, Farmington, MN - STEM, Sponsored by HughesNet: As a LGBTQ youth, Cash experienced rejection within her community until finding acceptance within her local 4-H club. 4-H gave her the leadership skills to lead her robotics team and create an affordable mobility device for disabled children out of a Power Wheels car. She founded her own nonprofit chapter and updates an online manual so other robotics clubs can make these devices as well.
"We are proud to honor our 2023 Youth in Action winners, a group of exceptional young people who have overcome obstacles and made an incredible impact on their communities through Cooperative Extension's 4-H programs," said Jennifer Sirangelo, president & CEO, National 4-H Council. "By empowering these stand-out youth and fostering their skills to make change, they in turn can inspire thousands of other young people to make a difference. When given the tools they need to lead, 4-H'ers like Matias, Sruthi, Norah, and Nicole are becoming the next generation of changemakers in their communities and for our country. "
The 4-H Youth in Action Awards, sponsored in part by Bayer and HughesNet, began in 2010 to recognize 4-H'ers who have overcome challenges and used the knowledge they gained in 4-H to create a lasting impact in their community.
To learn more about Youth in Action, please visit HERE.
ABOUT 4-H
4-H, the nation's largest youth development organization, grows confident young people who are empowered for life today and prepared for careers tomorrow. 4-H programs empower nearly six million young people across the U.S. through experiences that develop critical life skills. 4-H is the youth development program of our nation's Cooperative Extension System and USDA and serves every county and parish in the U.S. through a network of 110 public universities and more than 3000 local Extension offices. Globally, 4-H collaborates with independent programs to empower one million youth in 50 countries. The research-backed 4-H experience grows young people who are four times more likely to contribute to their communities; two times more likely to make healthier choices; two times more likely to be civically active; and two times more likely to participate in STEM programs.  Learn more about 4‑H and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
ABOUT BAYER
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of healthcare and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth, and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2015, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of EUR 46.3 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.3 billion. These figures include those for the high-tech polymers business, which was floated on the stock market as an independent company named Covestro on October 6, 2015. For more information, go to www.bayer.com/.
ABOUT HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in broadband satellite technology and services for home and office. Its flagship high-speed satellite Internet service is HughesNet®, the world's largest satellite network with over 1.3 million residential and business customers across the Americas. For large enterprises and governments, the company's HughesON™ managed network services provide complete connectivity solutions employing an optimized mix of satellite and terrestrial technologies. The JUPITER™ System is the world's most widely deployed High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) platform, operating on more than 20 satellites by leading service providers, delivering a wide range of broadband enterprise, mobility and cellular backhaul applications. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 7 million terminals of all types to customers in over 100 countries, representing approximately 50 percent market share, and its technology is powering broadband services to aircraft around the world.
Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations. For additional information about Hughes, please visit www.hughes.com and follow @HughesConnects on Twitter.
